USS KIDD (DD-661)
Fletcher class Destroyer
Another ship! Grandpa Loves old ships. Especially one that has such a great history as this one.
Please read the history about this ship:http://www.usskidd.com/hist661.html
If you served aboard a destroyer during WWII you were going to be in the middle of the fight. The destroyers were small, fast and very maneuverable. It was their job to protect the bigger ship and aircraft carriers from submarines, or enemy aircraft. They also rescued the pilots who were shot down over water. In two months the Kidd rescued 35 pilots & crew from the water.
The destroyers may have been small but they were very dangerous. Destroyers would even attack battleships dodging the big guns to get close enough to fire their torpedoes. Grandma is standing by the torpedo launcher that could swing left or right and shoot over the side of the destroyer.
Destroyers also hunted and destroyed submarines. They had lots of depth charges that would be dropped from the back of the ship or shot from the sides on launchers like this.
Just before the depth charge was dropped or launched a sailor would set the fuse to the depth that the charge would be set to explode.
The Kidd was hit by a Kamikaze airplane on the side of the ship between the two smoke stacks. This killed 38 and wounded 55 sailors.
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